Dobře dem!

Now that all the "business" part of my trip has been taken care of, my mother and I have been doing the touristy things in Prague. We moved Pensions and are staying closer to the "city" or Prague 1. The location in which we are staying is called Mala Strana, Prague 2, where you can find all the world's embassies. Our pension is called Dum u velke boty or the House at the Big Boot. On the taxi ride to this pension we were stopped by police check point where they inspect for bombs by walking around your car with a mirror and have the driver get out and open the hood. At pension Vternik, my mother and I were the only guests, but here at the Big Boot House we have found lots of Canadian and American families here on vacation. The man who is running the pension is Jakob. He is extremely helpful on the touristy side where he sits you down and lists 10 restaurants they highly recommend and answer any questions you might have as how things are done. Our room is very nice with two beds, sitting area, nice shower, and wooden antique furniture. People who assist us with our luggage always comment that we are heavy packers. However, we inform them that it's a years supply of luggage.

Once settled in, my mother and I explore the area and hoping to find a place for lunch. About two blocks down we spot the Aria hotel. That's the hotel where Samantha Brown stayed while she was here documenting her time in Prague! I love Samantha Brown so we decided to treat ourselves by having lunch at the Aria Hotel in the restaurant Covo. The restaurant was beautiful with a theme of music. The plates had famous singers and composers with a modern artistic twist. My mother ordered tandori chicken with jasmine rice and I ordered the steak sandwich and we both had coca cola which come in the cute old fashioned glass coke bottles.

The clouds started to roll in and a change in weather. I bundle up and my mother and I decide to simply just go on a walk. We are a couple blocks away from the famous Charles Bridge. We are warned to avoid peak tourist hours on the bridge (it's shoulder to should during noon-8pm) but we are just so tempted that we decide to cross. There you find people trying to sell everything imaginable and music of all kinds. There are dozens of statues that are magnificent. I learned some are more significant than others such as the statue of Saint Jan Nepomuk from 1683. The story about this statue was that St. Jan Nepomuk was a priest in Prague and listened to the Queen's confessions. The king demanded to know what the queen was confessing to the priest and he refused to tell the king. As a consequence, he was thrown off the Charles Bridge and died. He was declared a saint and a statue was created in his honor. Story goes if you touch St. Jan Neopmuk statue of him falling off the Charles Bridge with your left hand and make a wish, it will come true and bring you luck! I have yet to touch it because they say you can only wish for ONE so I want to make it very special. After the chaos on Charles Bridge my mother turn right and find ourselves not in the best location. We finally turn a corner and find ourselves head on with the Astronomical clock. It was almost 6 pm so we stay to watch the "show". The skeleton rings the bell and reminds us that time on earth is precious . Then the doors open above the clock and there is a parade of Saints. The door shuts and a man on the top tower plays his trumpet and waves at all the tourists at the end. It was very cool to see.

The next day my mother and I were going to head to the Mucha Museum since the forecast predicted rain. On the walk over, we decided to look for a place to eat. We took out the map Jakob gave us and decided to find Cafe Louvre. This is a historical cafe located in Prague 1. My mom orders the czech dish Goulash. Goulash is dumplings and beef in heavy gravy. I order a hamburger. I will eventually expand my food repitoire but if you saw Czech food you would be hesitant too. Goulash tasted like a beef stew and was surprisingly good. It will be great on a freezing day in the winter but not too many otherwise I'll have to buy two seats on the plane ride home. The weather outside was pouring rain. We come across a Tesko which is a Macy's and Target combined. We decide to shop for apartment stuff instead of going to the museum since we are drenched.

The next morning we decide to tour Prague castle. I totally missed the turn to head up to the castle from our Pension and I took my mom up the steepest hill. We lost our breathe and my mom caught on to my secret that I screwed up. We see the castle behind us and a sheep pasture to our left. We decide maybe we can cut through it to make it to the Castle. We find a nice man and he tells us to climb the grassy and muddy hill to get on the other side of the wall. Again, we entertain another local as he watched us attempt to climb the hill. My mom was slipping all over the place so I stood behind her pushing her up the steep muddy hill. I was cracking up but my mother was not amused. We get to the castle finally, sweaty, out of breath, and not to mention there is no more rain and is a sunny warm day. We get our audio tours and begin to tour. We climb up 297 steps up a tour to get a great view of Prague. Let's just say my mother and I burned off all that goulash with all the work out obstacles we encountered that morning. We then tour the Lobkovwicz Museum and it was fascinating. We learned that the Lobkovwicz family had their property taken not once but two times! First by the Nazi's, then by the Communist. Finally, they were able to retrieve most of their stuff. The man who owns it is from Boston where he was an investment banker before he returned to the Czech Republic to reclaim his ancestral homes. He personally guides you through his museum on an audio tour. Very interesting family and interesting history. We enjoyed a lovely lunch on the museums terrace with a ham and bre sandwich and listened to a flute, viola, and piano concert there as well.

At noon everyday, there is the main showing of the changing of the guards. It happens every hour but at noon they play music and it is more of a spectacle. It was a lot of fun to watch, little did I know what I was about to encounter with them the next day. The castle is huge and too much to see in one day. So we took our exhausted bodies back to the Pension (found out it only takes 4 minutes to get there and we did not have to cross a sheep field to get there).

The next morning we head back to the castle. I decided I wanted to take my picture with the guards standing outside like I see all the tourists doing. I think of doing something funny like blowing a kiss to the guard from the side. BIG mistake because once I did that the guard went "NO" and took his hand on my chest and shoved me to where I fall back a few steps. The crowd just freezes and I'm scared sh**less. I decide I'm not taking a picture with a guard anymore and it ruins my day. I try to cheer up by going to the toy museum and seeing the barbie museum. Nothing like reminiscing about your childhood. It was VERY neat! I saw the first Barbie created. I guess it was created after a prostitute from France named Lillie. It was kinda like finding out that Santa Clause didnt exsist. My mother and I loved that museum and it was a lot of fun. We visited the history of Prague museum and then took a tour of the inside of the church. Beautiful stained class mosaic windows and incredibly high ceilings. How did people create something like this hundreds of years ago?! As we were leaving the Prague castle I notice two girls infront of the guard (who was in his booth to stay out of the rain) and were putting their hands together in his face laughing and goofing around. I stopped to see if this guard would treat those girls how I was treated. NOTHING! My mom goes up to the girls to tell them what had happened to me and they were shocked. They were funny saying I should have pushed him back but I kinda dont want to mess with someone who is holding a gun with a knife at the end of it. The guards really are scary here in Prague. Another example was I was standing outside the gift store waiting for my mother to finish gift shopping and a guard walks right next to me and stops. I couldnt understand why he stood so close to me when there was tons of open space around the area. He looks up at the sky then he just turns and stares at me. I just give him the most awkward smile I'm sure and he just turns and walks away. Do I look like a spy or have an evil plot up my sleeve? Just creepy but my mom told me he was checking me out. I dont know but I have learned to stay clear of the authority here in Prague.

Last night we went to my FAVORITE restaurant thus far here in Prague. It is called Cafe de Paris and is a few blocks away from our Pension. My mom ordered their signature steak with a cream sauce and french fries. I had the beef lasagna and ratatoui (always curious what it tastes like after the movie). My mothers dish was out of this world! The sauce is a secret sauce that has every herb you can think of. The servers and Czech people are so friendly and love to have conversations with my mother and I. For dessert we shared a sample plate of creme brulee, chocolate mousse, and lime sorbet with a cafe latte. MMmm MMMmmm Mmmmmm. After dinner, my mother and I head to Namesti Miru where my apartment is to meet with Mylene to pick up my keys! Wow, my first apartment and not to mention an AMAZING apartment. I can't wait to show you pictures of the place, it will tempt you even more to come visit ;)

Today, my mother and I are going to move my suitcases to the flat and shop at Tesko. We are leaving Thursday to head to Cesky Krumlov just for the day. Then on Friday we are taking the train to Vienna to get my residency visa on Monday and then travel down to Salzburg! Things are really great here and get ready to read about more adventures to come. Djweski! (goodbye!)